During stressful school weeks, I only look forward to one thing: rotting in bed with my phone. While scrolling on TikTok or Instagram is a great mind break, it always kills me to see a nine-hour screen time. It impedes my productivity when I can’t break out of my scrolling habit, and it can be detrimental to my mental health. For 2024, I tried to make a resolution to only have four hours of screen time a day. While I definitely haven’t been perfect every day, I’ve decreased my screen time a lot. If you want to do the same thing, here are some of the activities I’ve done to get away from my phone!
- Cook or Bake
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Even if you’re not the best chef in the world, cooking or baking can be such a stress-relieving activity. Plus, you get a good treat out of it! You can bake something as simple as brownies or as elaborate as a multi-dish dinner. This will test your skills and allow you to engage in something fun and rewarding away from your phone.
- Declutter/reorganize
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Cleaning doesn’t sound like the most fun thing to do, but it can be so enjoyable if you don’t let yourself take it so seriously. Tackle something small, like a drawer or reorganizing your clothes. Turn on some music and let yourself sing and dance to it! Also, embrace the tangents. If you find an old journal, some old crafts, or a shirt you thought you lost, let yourself explore it. Sit down and read through the journal or make new outfits with the found clothing. Time will go way faster if you have exploration and fun stimulation when you clean.
- Listen to a new artist
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Music is one of the best ways to interact with something fun while not being on your phone. I have a whole list of artists and songs I want to sit down and really listen to. Carve out time for that new album or do a deep dive into an artist’s discography. I make this more interactive by looking at the lyrics at the same time or doing some sort of craft with my hands to keep myself busy. Some of the artists I did this to recently were Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, Gracie Abrams and Lucy Dacus! I’m also looking forward to exploring Ethel Cain and The Last Dinner Party in the near future. If you need other recommendations, check out our monthly recaps where some HC Pitt members say what songs they’re obsessed with currently.
- Read a book
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This is a simple activity but it’s such a classic! I love reading because it’s so fun to explore a new world and get obsessed with new characters. However, I know some people don’t like reading, but you can still do this activity. Don’t pick up a 500-page novel, but a comic book or a short story! For some ideas on what to read, we recently published an article on what some of HC Pitt’s members are reading!
- craft
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My all-time favorite activity is doing a craft while binge-watching a TV show or watching a movie. While watching something does include a screen, it makes a big difference to me if I watch it on a computer because I’m separated from the ability to scroll. The best creative activities are something simple, like origami, doodling or doing a coloring page. However, if you want to work on a large craft project, I love paint-by-numbers and miniature models. Complicated paint-by-numbers can be great gifts and are pretty inexpensive at craft stores like Michaels. Miniature models, like ones that fit into bookshelves, are more expensive and precise, but they include lots of different activities like gluing, painting and wiring up lights. I’ve only made two but they were so fun to build.
- Go for a walk
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Scrolling on your phone stops you from interacting with nature and the outdoors, so put down the phone and go for a walk! You don’t have to have a specific destination but go explore a new part of your neighborhood or people-watch in a busy area. Fresh air and sunlight instantly lift my mood; plus, it’s great exercise!
I hope this gave you some good ideas for fun ways to reduce your screen time. Now stop reading this article and go do one of them!